The Mudblood

Chapter 47 : Year 3

"Fitztramp!"

"Slaggy!"

"Mudwhore!"

These were only a few of the nicknames that I'd received from the Slytherins over the next few days. Apparently, since I'd snogged Harper in front of the whole school I was now a super-slut, though Draco Malfoy, who had snogged Astoria for all to see, was now a highly regarded idol by the Slytherin boys. A few of the first and second years had asked him for autographs; Crabbe had even asked for an autograph, even though he spent most of his time with the git. It was completely sexist, the way they hassled me and worshiped Malfoy for the same actions.

Nevertheless, I'd grown so accustomed to the Slytherins' badgering that none of it really fazed me. Having had my first kiss in the middle of the Great Hall, I now walked with a whole new sophistication about me, one that Colin Creevey would probably enjoy photographing.

Like the rest of the Slytherins, Malfoy had also opted to finding extremely crude nicknames for me, though that seemed to be the only thing that changed in the way that he treated me. He was still a cruel little ferret even though he'd nearly snogged me in detention on Monday. I felt conflicted about it—because I wasn't sure if I'd loved it or hated it—but the whole ordeal hadn't even deterred Malfoy in the slightest.

What bothered me most over the next few days, however, was the fact that Fred Weasley was completely avoiding me. I'd tried to talk to him multiple times in the Great Hall, but he would always drag George away, shooting me a nasty scowl as they went. Just the opposite was happening with Harper, as every time he tried to approach me, I would run away in a fit of awkwardness. We were friends at one point, but now that I'd kissed him—and in such a strange way—I wasn't sure if we could ever be normal again.

In Divination on Thursday, Vince Anderson had finally come back to class after having been stabbed by Melody, though I almost wished he hadn't...

"Pst, Mudblood!" he hissed from the table where he sat with Carl Vaisey and a third year Ravenclaw boy. "Have you made any predictions?"

Today we were doing tealeaves again, though by now everyone in the class had learned that the results were always bogus.

"Hmm...I think my tealeaves say that I'm going to hex you across the room if you ask me that one more time," I replied sarcastically.

"Fine, I'll ask you then," Vaisey grumbled. "Anderson, if, on my behalf, you would ask that disgusting creature what the second task of the Tournament is going to be—"

"Oh give up, you two!" I groaned, throwing my head back. "I've been telling you both during every Divination class since the first task that I don't know what the second one is. All I see is water."

"Maybe they're having a water battle," Anderson enthused. "Or—maybe they'll see who can drink more water from the lake without puking—"

"You want to talk about puking, Anderson?" I prompted, raising my eyebrows at him as Vaisey suppressed a snicker. "How's your arm doing by the way? I love your bandage—did you request that bright green color?"

Anderson grumbled to himself as he tried to cover his bandaged arm with his sweater. Apparently his wound had been bad enough that it was still healing, something that Melody would take great pride in.

"Don't look at it, Mudblood—you're going to make it worse," he griped, though I could still see part of his neon green bandages protruding from the end of his sleeve.